{"id":464559,"date":"2022-06-16T18:15:54","date_gmt":"2022-06-16T15:15:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/en.buradabiliyorum.com\/cottage-industry-invermere-the-best-kept-secret\/"},"modified":"2022-06-16T18:15:54","modified_gmt":"2022-06-16T15:15:54","slug":"cottage-industry-invermere-the-best-kept-secret","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/cottage-industry-invermere-the-best-kept-secret\/","title":{"rendered":"#Cottage Industry: Invermere, the \u201cbest-kept secret\u201d"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"ez-toc-container\" class=\"ez-toc-v2_0_85 counter-hierarchy ez-toc-counter ez-toc-custom ez-toc-container-direction\">\n<p class=\"ez-toc-title\" style=\"cursor:inherit\">Table of Contents<\/p>\n<label for=\"ez-toc-cssicon-toggle-item-6a34b9cd5072a\" class=\"ez-toc-cssicon-toggle-label\"><span class=\"\"><span class=\"eztoc-hide\" style=\"display:none;\">Toggle<\/span><span class=\"ez-toc-icon-toggle-span\"><svg style=\"fill: #dd3333;color:#dd3333\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" class=\"list-377408\" width=\"20px\" height=\"20px\" viewBox=\"0 0 24 24\" fill=\"none\"><path d=\"M6 6H4v2h2V6zm14 0H8v2h12V6zM4 11h2v2H4v-2zm16 0H8v2h12v-2zM4 16h2v2H4v-2zm16 0H8v2h12v-2z\" fill=\"currentColor\"><\/path><\/svg><svg style=\"fill: #dd3333;color:#dd3333\" class=\"arrow-unsorted-368013\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" width=\"10px\" height=\"10px\" viewBox=\"0 0 24 24\" version=\"1.2\" baseProfile=\"tiny\"><path d=\"M18.2 9.3l-6.2-6.3-6.2 6.3c-.2.2-.3.4-.3.7s.1.5.3.7c.2.2.4.3.7.3h11c.3 0 .5-.1.7-.3.2-.2.3-.5.3-.7s-.1-.5-.3-.7zM5.8 14.7l6.2 6.3 6.2-6.3c.2-.2.3-.5.3-.7s-.1-.5-.3-.7c-.2-.2-.4-.3-.7-.3h-11c-.3 0-.5.1-.7.3-.2.2-.3.5-.3.7s.1.5.3.7z\"\/><\/svg><\/span><\/span><\/label><input type=\"checkbox\"  id=\"ez-toc-cssicon-toggle-item-6a34b9cd5072a\" checked aria-label=\"Toggle\" \/><nav><ul class='ez-toc-list ez-toc-list-level-1 ' ><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-1'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-1\" href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/cottage-industry-invermere-the-best-kept-secret\/#%E2%80%9CCottage_Industry_Invermere_the_%E2%80%9Cbest-kept_secret%E2%80%9D%E2%80%9D\" >&#8220;Cottage Industry: Invermere, the \u201cbest-kept secret\u201d&#8221;<\/a><ul class='ez-toc-list-level-3' ><li class='ez-toc-heading-level-3'><ul class='ez-toc-list-level-3' ><li class='ez-toc-heading-level-3'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-2\" href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/cottage-industry-invermere-the-best-kept-secret\/#Invermere_British_Columbia\" >Invermere, British Columbia<\/a><\/li><\/ul><\/li><\/ul><\/li><\/ul><\/nav><\/div>\n<h1><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"%E2%80%9CCottage_Industry_Invermere_the_%E2%80%9Cbest-kept_secret%E2%80%9D%E2%80%9D\"><\/span>&#8220;Cottage Industry: Invermere, the \u201cbest-kept secret\u201d&#8221;<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h1>\n<div>\n                            Surging prices, bidding wars, blind offers\u2014the search for seasonal real estate has become a battlefield. Tales from 10 of Canada\u2019s hottest vacation towns.\n                        <\/div>\n<div>\n<p class=\"p1\">Canadians call their vacation homes<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0<\/span>by many different names\u2014cottages, chalets, cabins, camps. But they all share one thing, and that\u2019s the promise of escape. In the last few years, however, the silent grandeur <span class=\"s1\">of dockside mornings and sunsets\u2014<\/span>once only interrupted by the odd speedboat or loon\u2014has been drowned out by sights more common in the world of residential real estate: packed offer days; frantic realtors engrossed in FaceTime tours; tiny towns overtaken by firepit-crazed interlopers. For buyers, the message is quite clear: vacation\u2019s over.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p3\">According to Royal LePage\u2019s 2022 recreational property price report, Canadians are staring down a 13 per cent jump in vacation-property prices from 2021\u2014a slight cooling from the year before but still <span class=\"s2\">compounded by the massive increases since the pan<\/span>demic. The national average for a single-family <span class=\"s2\">cottage is now $640,710, and there\u2019s even more vari<\/span>ability at the local level. <span class=\"s2\">Chronic low supply and insatiable demand mean buyers have been shelling out in ex<\/span>cess of $1 million to simply enter some Ontario markets. In Invermere, British Columbia, prices nearly doubled between 2020 and 2021.<\/p>\n<blockquote><p><strong>READ:\u00a0A homeowner\u2019s worst nightmare<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p class=\"p3\"><span class=\"s2\">A mix of factors have drawn up to 1.8 million Can<\/span>adians into the vacation-property market in <span class=\"s2\">the last five years: the rise of remote work (and bet<\/span>ter Wi-Fi), aging millennials (now with savings), an army of retiring boomers and a pre-existing migration to the rural \u201cexurbs\u201d and areas with affordable housing, which was supercharged by the pandemic. In the second quarter of 2020, according to Statistics Canada, Canadians saved a record 28 per cent of their income. With nowhere to eat, drink or <a href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/category\/trip-and-travel\/\" data-internallinksmanager029f6b8e52c=\"10\" title=\"Trip &amp; Travel\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">travel<\/a> to, lots <span class=\"s2\">of us amassed down payments\u2014and a significant por<\/span>tion of them went toward cottages.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p3\">Not all Canadian markets are created equal, though. 10 locations in particular\u2014some established and others emerging\u2014have seen particularly dramatic year-over-year price spikes.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p3\">In the <a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/canadianmags.ca\/products\/copy-of-macleans-single-issue\">July issue<\/a> of <em>Maclean\u2019s,<\/em> and each week here online, recent buyers divulge what they had to do to acquire the cottages of their dreams: pool family money, send relatives for viewings, hop on the first flight to Atlantic Canada post-bubble, or buy sight unseen, sometimes from thousands of kilometres away.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" data-sizes=\"auto\" class=\"aligncenter wp-image-1237519 size-full lazyload\" src=\"https:\/\/www.macleans.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/06\/Untitled-2-e1655389277322.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1981\" height=\"1624\"\/><\/p>\n<hr\/>\n<h3><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Invermere_British_Columbia\"><\/span>Invermere, British Columbia<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h3>\n<p><strong>Average recreational property price (2021):\u00a0<\/strong>$666,000<\/p>\n<p><strong>The market:<\/strong>\u00a0<span class=\"s1\">In-the-know Calgarians have long braved the mountainous three-hour trek to holiday in Invermere, British Columbia, a town of 4,000 people that borders the Rockies. Its charming downtown strip, skiing and golfing amenities, and proximity to the warm-bodied Lake Windermere have made it a favourite among young <\/span><span class=\"s2\">families. Recently, Invermere has absorbed new vaca<\/span><span class=\"s1\">tion-property owners as part of a broader trend of baby boomers retiring into the Columbia Valley. Invermere\u2019s inventory was once considered affordable by B.C. standards, but the whopping 88 per cent spike <\/span><span class=\"s2\">in prices from 2020 to 2021 has been anything but relaxing for prospective buyers.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0 <\/span><\/span><span class=\"s1\"><span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><strong>The buyers:<\/strong>\u00a0Brad Flock, a 65-year-old marketing professional, and his wife, Dena, a 65-year-old retired design entrepreneur.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\"><b>Dena:<\/b><\/span><span class=\"s2\">\u00a0\u201cBrad and I have been lucky to own several vacation homes. We used to winter in Scottsdale in Arizona and owned a place on Canmore\u2019s Silvertip Resort golf course until 2014. Eight years ago, we experienced a family tragedy, and we sold the Canmore property. We had too many memories there.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p2\">After a few years, we thought about getting another place, and we kept coming back to Invermere. It had a lot going for it: the water, the mountains and the fact that it was only a three-hour drive from our home in Calgary. We started checking out places in 2016. Homes, condos, cabins\u2014there was a lot of inventory available back then. After looking at about 20 places, we bought a 3,000-square-foot half-duplex that overlooked the lake and was listed in the high $500,000s; we got it for well under that. Nothing was selling quickly then.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<blockquote><p><strong>READ:\u00a0For $2.3 million you can buy an entire village of Swiss chalets, nestled in the Rockies<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p class=\"p2\"><span class=\"s2\">In 2020, we sold our place in Scottsdale\u2014the snowbird thing wasn\u2019t for us, and we wanted a bigger place in Invermere, where our extended family could stay. Our realtor and friend, DK Rice, told us that the market was heating up. Small towns in B.C. were just taking off.<\/span><br \/>\n<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" data-sizes=\"auto\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-1237521 lazyload\" src=\"https:\/\/www.macleans.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/06\/220519-AS_FlacksCottage_3226.jpg.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"3000\" height=\"2000\"\/><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">There was one house in the Taynton Bay neighbourhood that had been on the market for a while. It was quite dated, but it had everything we wanted: space, a great yard and lake access for our pontoon. We got it for about five per cent under asking. This was in 2021, right before the pandemic pushed Invermere\u2019s prices into really crazy territory. Our old half-duplex sold for more than $800,000.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" data-sizes=\"auto\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-1237522 lazyload\" src=\"https:\/\/www.macleans.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/06\/Untitled-3.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2552\" height=\"2000\"\/><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">When we bought, there were just two houses and a bunch of empty lots in the area. But in the last 12 months, eight houses have sprung up, and many vacation homes are going for 20 per cent over list price. The waterfront is being developed, and you can\u2019t go to certain restaurants without a reservation anymore\u2014even in the off-season.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">That said, I love coming out here. Even our dachshund, Henry, is excited when we get in the car. Our nieces and nephews\u2014and their kids\u2014are able to enjoy the lake, water-ski, wake-surf, tube or just go for hikes. It\u2019s been very healing for all of us.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<hr\/>\n<p><em>This article <a href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/category\/download-scripts-themes-apps\/\" data-internallinksmanager029f6b8e52c=\"9\" title=\"Download Scripts &amp; Themes &amp; Apps\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">app<\/a>ears in print in the July 2022 issue of<\/em>\u00a0Maclean\u2019s\u00a0<em>magazine. Subscribe to the monthly print magazine\u00a0<a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/secure.macleans.ca\/loc\/MME\/head_subscribe\">here<\/a>,\u00a0or buy the issue online\u00a0<a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"c-link\" tabindex=\"-1\" href=\"http:\/\/canadianmags.ca\/products\/copy-of-macleans-single-issue\" data-stringify-link=\"http:\/\/canadianmags.ca\/products\/copy-of-macleans-single-issue\" data-sk=\"tooltip_parent\" data-remove-tab-index=\"true\">here<\/a>.\u00a0<\/em><br \/>\n<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" data-sizes=\"auto\" class=\"aligncenter wp-image-1237505 lazyload\" src=\"https:\/\/www.macleans.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/06\/COVER_.09375_DRE-e1655330793623.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"366\" height=\"500\"\/><\/p>\n<div class=\"under-article-widget-nl\">\n<p class=\"under-article-widget-title\">Looking for more?<\/p>\n<p class=\"under-article-widget-description\">Get the best of <em>Maclean<\/em>&#8216;s sent straight to your inbox. Sign up for <a href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/category\/news\/\" data-internallinksmanager029f6b8e52c=\"2\" title=\"News\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">news<\/a>, commentary and analysis.<\/p>\n<p>                <iframe style=\"display:none;width:0px;height:0px;\" src=\"https:\/\/www.macleans.ca\/economy\/realestateeconomy\/cottage-industry-invermere-the-best-kept-secret\/about:blank\" name=\"gform_ajax_frame_26\" id=\"gform_ajax_frame_26\" title=\"This iframe contains the logic required to handle Ajax powered Gravity Forms.\"><\/iframe><\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p><script async defer crossorigin=\"anonymous\" src=\"https:\/\/connect.facebook.net\/en_US\/sdk.js\"><\/script><\/p>\n<blockquote><p><strong><span style=\"color: #ff6600;\">If you liked the article, do not forget to share it with your friends. Follow us on\u00a0<span style=\"color: #ff0000;\"><a style=\"color: #ff0000;\" href=\"https:\/\/news.google.com\/publications\/CAAqBwgKMLG0nwswvr63Aw\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener noreferrer\">Google News<\/a><\/span>\u00a0too, click on the star and choose us from your favorites.<\/span><\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<blockquote>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\">For forums sites go to <span style=\"color: #ff9900;\"><a style=\"color: #ff9900;\" href=\"https:\/\/forum.buradabiliyorum.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Forum.BuradaBiliyorum.Com<\/a><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<blockquote>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><strong>If you want to read more News articles, you can visit our <span style=\"color: #ff9900;\"><a style=\"color: #ff9900;\" href=\"https:\/\/en.buradabiliyorum.com\/general\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">General category.<\/a><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p><span style=\"color: black;\"><a style=\"color: #ff9900;\" href=\"https:\/\/www.macleans.ca\/economy\/realestateeconomy\/cottage-industry-invermere-the-best-kept-secret\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Source<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>&#8220;Cottage Industry: Invermere, the \u201cbest-kept secret\u201d&#8221; Surging prices, bidding wars, blind offers\u2014the search for seasonal real estate has become a battlefield. Tales from 10 of Canada\u2019s hottest vacation towns. Canadians call their vacation homes\u00a0by many different names\u2014cottages, chalets, cabins, camps. But they all share one thing, and that\u2019s the promise of escape. In the last&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":464560,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.macleans.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/06\/220519-AS_FlacksCottage_3159-766x431.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[130462,120313,130463,104797,73971,71226],"class_list":["post-464559","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-general","tag-bidding-wars","tag-cottage","tag-cottage-country","tag-cover-story","tag-houses","tag-real-estate"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/464559","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=464559"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/464559\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/464560"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=464559"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=464559"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=464559"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}